Final Project - Visual Analysis
Final Project - Visual Analysis
Lee Sean / 0337001
Design Principles / Bachelor of Design(Hons) in Creative Media
Instruction
Week 10
Visual Analysis
Lecture
In this lecture we learned about what is Visual Analysis and how does Visual Analysis work (Observation, Analysis, Interpretation).
Final Project
Part 1
Select a design of your choice (poster/ billboard/illustration/ etc).
Conduct a visual analysis f the design in about 500 words .
Part 2
Produce a work of design, inspired/ influenced by the design you have analysis, or as a reaction to it.
Write a 150-200 word rationale for your design.
Part 1
Chosen Artist
William Henry
Fig 1
Image from: https://9gag.com/gag/a0Yge9X
William Henry's website: https://williamhenrydesign.com
Chosen Design work
Fig 1.1
Observations
This design is in portrait format. For visual elements, the colours used in this work are lot's of different shades of blue. All the different shades of blue are shown at the background of the main character in the middle. The background and the character in the centre are in peach colour. The elements/ subject in this design and shown as a silhouette. There's a word right bellow the character in the centre. The background of the word Bioshock are black and the number 2 is in dark blue. The border became more obvious at the bottom of the design when it interacts with the giant silhouette.
Analysis
The emphasis is right in the centre of the design - the silhouette of the character - the colour of it is the same as the background which is peach colour but with the giant silhouette at the back it creates a good contrast that help people direct their eyes to the character. It also helps direct peoples eyes to the word and then the number below.
Unity is shown with all the different shades of blue and black arranged sequentially to create a sense of depth/ perspective of the place the character is in. There are also a few lights being shown at the back. Even though all of elements are in silhouette form, they are easily recognisable because they are the iconic parts of the game. For example, the biggest blue silhouette is a bigger version of the character in the middle. There is also a smaller character climbing on the right side of the character.
The border was hard to notice at the top of the design but as it goes down and interact with the character the border became more visible.
Interpretation
This poster design is based on a video game called Bioshock. There are 3 different series for Bioshock. (Bioshock, Bioshock 2 and Bioshock Infinite). Bioshock is a game that are based on an underwater city.
Andrew Ryan the man who created the city have an intention to create a utopia with the philosophy of objectivism. The city gives everyone freedom to do things and doesn't justify what's right and what's not. But because of the lacks of rules and politic the city soon became a violent dystopia, as you can see one of the way dystopia is shown in this design are the broken buildings and fences on both side of the main character above the word Bioshock.
The philosophy of the game is influence by the philosophy of Ayn Rand's concept of objectivism. Which is built on capitalism, reality, reason and self interest. I felt that the philosophy is very interesting I even bought the book "Atlas Shrugged". Like I said I am not a reader but I just have it because I have it because I like Ayn Rand's theory.
The game is inspired
- By Ayn Rand's 1957 Novel Atlas Shrugged.
- Aesthetic of Art Deco
- Music of World War 2 Generation
The first series of this game was release in 2007, I was very young that time and I only played it after a few years. I love the aesthetic, environment, art style and everything about this game. I really like the old retro vintage feeling the game gave. In a way it was kind of like the first time in my life where I encounter art and design. I started to have a big interest in learning design and it became sort of like a starting point of me trying to learn art. That's why this poster design I chose to analysis is very important to me. It brings me back to all the memories about this game there are so many tiny elements in the design that still reminds me of the overall atmosphere, aesthetic and feeling it gave me.
Fig 1.2
Fig 1.3
Fig 1.4
Sources of Information
BioShock Wiki. n.d. Bioshock. [online] Available at: <https://bioshock.fandom.com/wiki/BioShock> [Accessed 23 June 2020].
2019. The Philoshopy Of Bioshock [Ayn Rand, Rapture, Plasmids, Civil War]. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Pig1yMNoY> [Accessed 23 June 2020].
2020. The Philosophy Of Bioshock [Ayn Rand, Objectivism, Classical Liberalism]. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9M2VLGvG1k> [Accessed 23 June 2020].
Part 2
Fig 1.5
Inspiration/ Concept
I'm Malaysian and there are a lot of things that I miss in Malaysia. Thing such as the old phone booth that I my primary school have, the old rusty street sign and the old taxi car model. All these tiny element will be always be remembered in my heart. I feel like this design can be a very good and simple way to introduce where I'm from.
I decide to not show the frame at the bottom of the work like the artist I shown. Instead I wanted to have it like this because I really like this half finish/ imperfect shapes feeling.
Further exploration
Fig 1.6
Fig 1.7
Fig 1.8
I realised that it is hard to show the old elements I've mention like old phone booth etc... with the design style i'm going for. I feel like instead of using only tiny silhouettes it needs to be a bit more detail so that it's easier to recognise. So I tried some other ways where I can show the old elements.
I didn't want to stick to it too much because I want to try to explore more different things. So instead of including the specific old things I just set the keyword to old traditional feelings and I tried to add some photographs or design that really represents that concept well.
I think artboard 8 have potential, but now it looks very crowded and messy. So I think I just have to move the composition around work on the hierarchy maybe it will look better. Currently it just look like very crowded. But silhouette of me became not visible so I'll try to keep all the element inside the silhouette.
I will keep working with artboard 3 and 4 because it looks very tidy and simple. The elements I have inside the silhouette doesn't really resemble what I wanted to show which are the old things in Malaysia like old phone booth, street signs etc... So I'll redo the content of the collage design inside the silhouette.
Fig 1.9
Previously I kept trying to make sure the proportion of the object seems logical. For example I want to make sure the object sizes looks logical so like the car is not bigger than the building and the tower is the biggest etc... But this time I tried to challenge it, so for some elements such as the phone booth I tried to make it the same size as the KLCC tower. I decided to place the street signs onto the china town entrance, I really like it because it kind of gives me the old dirty advertisement paper poster that is overlaying each other on a wall feeling. But instead, it's an old sign on top of another old sign.
Final Submission
Rationale
This work is inspired by the illustration work from William Henry. I really like the way he just uses simple silhouettes and really beautiful colour palette for his work. It doesn't contain extreme amount of details but just simple clean silhouettes. I am really inspired and I wanted to create a design that kind of tells a little it of myself.
I'm Malaysian and there are a lot of things that I miss/ love in Malaysia. Thing such as the old phone booth that I my primary school have, the old rusty street sign, the old man who rides a motorcycle while selling lots of bread and that big sign on the entrance of the China Town. All these tiny element will be always be remembered in my heart. I feel like this design can be a very good and simple way to introduce where I'm from.
At first I wanted to keep the art style and keep it in different shades of black and white to show a sense of depth. But I realised that Malaysia is a really colourful country, and using that different shades of black and white just feels so bland. It looked like a really depressing place. So I decided to keep it colourful and at the same time show all the old specific elements I've mentioned.
When I was working on the work I was trying to make sure all the objects sizes seem logical. I want the proportion to look just as the same as how you would compare the sizes in real life. But after a while I decided to challenge it and make it kind of a bit more abstract. I decided to make the phone booth like a giant tower, I also added some of the old street signs onto the chinatown sign. I wanted to have the signs overlaying each other to look like the typical old advertisement board you see on the street. The type of advertisement on where it's all dirty wallpaper overlaying each other.
Reflection
What have I learnt in this module?
In this module I learnt about the principles of design. Before joining the module I didn't know anything about it at all, all I know is how to make the work look pretty and balance. But I never knew the specific terms and also the theory of it. So it was really helpful to learn all these things.
What did I enjoy the most?
Honestly I enjoyed everything in this module. All the projects were very challenging for me but it's also really fun at the same time. The lecturer is very supportive and very kind as well. Even though the class is online it still feels as efficient as physical class. The lecturer also provided extra resources and info online so that we can learn more so it was really great. Most of the time when we show our work to our lecturer, she provide really good feedback on how we can improve and she is also very patient and she explain in a very detail way so that we could understand.
What did I not enjoy the most?
The only thing I did not enjoy is having online classes for this module. It's really sad and I really
wanted to have physical class and meet my lecturer and classmate in real life. Hopefully we'll meet
again someday.
What have I learnt about myself through this module?
I learned that I am really not confident in myself and I often overthink on everything. When we first show our work to our lecturer I was extremely nervous because I feel like the work is bad and ugly. But in the end the lecturer said it looks okay and just need some slight adjustment. Same for all the other module I was very nervous and scared but in the end it's not that bad. Sure it need a lot of improvement but it's not as bad as I think it is. This module made me really understand which part do I need to improve on. I notice that I'm fine with having enough contrast in my work but I need to improve on the visual hierarchy, balance of the work.
What has changed and what has not in my learning journey?
I wasn't really sure what to expect when I first join this module I wasn't sure what it's about. But after the first class I became really interested in learning design. I also started to become really observant with my surrounding when I go out. Everywhere I go I'm always looking at design. Observing the poster and logo of the shop, observing the artwork and trying to analyse it and see if I have to recreate the same exact work how would I do it and what kind of though process did the designer went through to do the design.
I started to watch a lot of youtube videos especially a youtube channel called The Futur. They provide really amazing tutorial and they talk about all kinds of design, going from graphic design to website design to video animation and even some entrepreneurship as well. I started listening to their podcast and watching their video on a daily basis. I also started following a lot of designers and design work on Instagram account. I try to surround myself with design work everyday and get inspired, I really enjoy it and after the semester is over I will begin to start my own personal projects. I decided to start an Instagram account as well to post my own personal work so it can be used as an portfolio as well in the future.
What could be improved in this module?
Nothing, I'm really happy with the module I find it really fun. Even though I kind of struggled with the projects but in the process of doing it I really learned a lot from the module.
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